Robin Cousland
This roleplay character belongs to Grace King (tumblr) and can be found here. Robin "Robb" James Cousland (born in Dragon 9:10), is a somewhat cocky, boyish and flirtatious Grey Warden, who went on to end the fifth blight with his older twin sister and become one of the Heroes of Fereldan. He, along with his sister, Zevran, his brother in law, currently rule Fereldan. Robb is also known as the Dark Wolf in some circles in Denerim, for stealing Teyrn Logain's crown, though he didn't choose this title and almost no one knows the "Dark Wolf's" true identity. His career in Denerim, however, is only the tip of the iceberg. Despite his usual visible lack of maturity in most of life, in fighting Robb is more restrained. This is to the extent that Robb is, surprisingly, an extremely accomplished duellist, some would say one of the best. Due to his 'unique' style he often manages to catch his opponents off guard. He also seems to put on a completely different demeanor in order to take on matters of state, almost like a second personality. Robb is the third and youngest child of Teyrn Bryce and Teyrna Eleanor Cousland, the younger brother of Fergus Cousland and the twin brother of Brid Cousland. During the Fifth Blight, Robb and his sister became Grey Wardens, after their castle in Highever was betrayed and attacked by Arl Howe's forces, and most of their family, and everyone else in the castle, was wiped out. Their castle's defences had been low, since their own forces had been sent away for battle at the side of King Cailan, on his orders, to help end the blight. They survived with the aid of the Grey Warden, Duncan, who had been staying at the castle for a few days looking for recruits (a honour Robb had been quite fond of the idea of getting, but not like this); as long as they agreed to travel with him to Ostagar to join his order and help fight the darkspawn. They met their two fellow recruits, Daveth Ser Jory, at Ostagar. And were sent to the Korcari Wilds to collect some treaties and supplies for their joining. When they returned, however, neither Jory or Daveth survived the joining ceremony and so Brid and Robb were the two recruits remaining. When the battle began, they were sent with another warden called Alistair (who instantly seemed to look almost exactly like the king, but whatever) to light the beacon on the tower to signal Logain's men to join the battle to reinforce his troops. Due to the tower being infested with darkspawn they lit the signal too late, and Loghain fled the battle instead of aiding his king on the field, allowing everyone already fighting to die at the hands of the monsters. This included both Duncan and King Cailin, as well as all of the other Fereldan wardens. Loghain also helpfully branded them the traitors, claiming that the surviving Grey Wardens were responsible for the king's death. They were saved from the darkspawn by Flemeth, Morrigan's mother who they met shortly before in the Korcari Wilds. She saved them from the fray, taken to her cottage, and tended to them somewhat. Upon regaining consciousness, she asks only that they bring her daughter with them on their journey. Despite their outlaw status, the siblings, strangely given the rains by Alistair, used the treaties they'd procured to find allies in the Dalish eves, the warrior dwarves of Orsammar, the militia of Redcliffe, Fereldan Circle of Magi and Legion of the Dead, among others. Along the way they picked up allies who helped them on their journey, and with whom they became friends. These people included Zevran, Leilina, Sten, Oghren, Wynne and Shale. Robin formed a particular bond, though not easily, with Zevran Arainai. The two had a relationship with beneifits for a while, though it developed to something more concrete. Zevran panicked about this but eventually settled, giving Robb a gold earing that he meant as a kind of proposal. Once they had all of the people they could muster they launched their plan. With the help of Arl Eamon, who they saved from death, as well as his son from demonic possession, they persuaded the Landsmeet that Loghain was the one lying and that they could solve the problem with the blight. Once the Landsmeet ended, they called in all the allies they made, ready for the darkspawn to attempt to take Denerim. It was a tough fight, but it ended atop Fort Drakon, where the tainted dragon attacked the two grey wardens and the companions they'd brought. Victorious, they now rule over Fereldan, taking it in turns to lead the Fereldan Grey Wardens, situated now in Amaranthine. Robin is a part of the Cousland family, and the current Fereldan royal family. Biography Early Life ]] Robin Cousland was born to Bryce and Eleanor Cousland, the youngest of three children and thus the baby of the family. Considering this, he was third in line to the teyrnship of Highever, and obviously never hoped or expected to inherit it, as it would mean the death of his entire family. He grew up in the beautiful Castle Cousland, a life he appreciates greatly having experienced a life without the luxury he had as a child. As the babies (along with his sister too, by technicality), his mother was very protective of them; this of course led to him being a very rebellious boy, railing against being cooped up or shielded from harm, much as he knew his mother meant well. This mainly meant playing in the local villages or countryside, when his mother of course warned him not to, due to the various dangers out there that it's a young boy not face. And this of course meant avoiding his nanny or "Nan", or she would simply stop him and instead of fun he would be faced with a lecture. Robin, an imaginative little boy, loved it only more for the idea of adventure that came with it. He used to imagine he fought demons and monsters, all of which he had learnt about from his tutor, Aldous. Though the man would refuse blame for young Robb's escapades (and, in fact, frequently discouraged it). Much as he would love to deny it, Robb enjoyed Adolus' lessons in a certain way, he merely found the delivery of the information to be dull. Growing up with older siblings wasn't too hard for Robin, while they had their natural fights (and annoyed the crap out of each other) over things here and there, the siblings were otherwise close as any could be. In the case of Fergus, he apparently took after his mother in some ways, as given the chance he would always be protective of the younger two Couslands. He and his sisters were close with a squire who arrived at the castle at age twelve, Rory Gilmore. Because of this Robb, much to the surprise of some even today, has been an avid reader since he could interpret the words on the pages, immersing himself in various topics, as well as reading as many novels as he could find amongst the history tomes. The topics he found most interesting were ancient battles and histories and strange (to him) and taboo cultures (i.e. that of the Tevinter Imperium, much to the distaste of many). When it was impossible for him to play outside he instead would likely be found reading in the library, to the extent the claims to have read almost all of the books in his grandfather's collection. As with a lot of children, he resisted religiously the duty of having to go to the chantry. While at the time he very much believed, as children will believe what's told to them as truth, he didn't enjoy going to the chantry. At all. Teenage Years In his teenage years, Robin's basic training from his youth intensified. For the most part he enjoyed the fighting, having grown a bit out of his fantasies, he simply found it fun to progress and get better as a fighter. He was a natural, he was told, though it may just have been people saying that to try to appease him, though criticism was given. Unlike some of his peers, who went for heavy swings and deliberate, obvious moves, Robb was more cunning, dodging and parrying those more bullish moves and struck while the opponent was disoriented. While trained as a warrior, from day one Robin was most definitely more of a rogue, and it showed. It was during his early teenage years that Robb first tossed around the idea of there being no maker. He was told he was supposed to feel something, some presence, but felt nothing. The more he thought the more he came to think that there was nothing to suggest he existed. This was a controversial view, mind, so he tried his best to keep it to himself. Though these were truly genuine thoughts, mot people assumed (whenever he actually did bring up the matter) that it was just an extension of his various earlier rebellions. Since he was fairly young, his father and his old friend Rendon Howe were desperately trying to set Robin up with the later's daughter, Delilah Howe. They were also doing this with his twin sister and Thomas Howe (his younger son). This made Robb instantly uncomfortable; though his outright refusal and resulting awkwardness around Delilah was misinterpreted as arrogance on Robb's part (possibly the arl's perspective was key in this), though he tried his best to be nice to her; her and her siblings being some of the only other children he ever interact with. Though in later life he would find out, despite how her father constantly described things, she was not at all interested in him. The main reason this attempted match made Robb uncomfortable was that it became apparent to him that he was not attracted Delilah, or in fact any women. He, in fact, found himself drawn to Bann Loren's son Dairren, instead. This caused a small problem in the family, in that his father thought it was best he find a mach anyway. Robin was obviously dead against the idea, pointing out that such a life would either doom him to a life of misery or to be an adulterer. The fact that his father refused to listen to this greatly annoyed him, however much he understood that his father's intentions were well-meant. His siblings, however were nothing but supportive. It was late in his teenage years that he tried to form a relationship, if an awkward one, with Dairren. The Fifth Blight At the start of the fifth blight King Cailan called the armies of the lesser noble families to a fight at the ruins of Ostagar. That included the Couslands' troops. Robin's father had them ready, but the plan was to send half of them away with Fergus, while he and Howe waited for the rest of his friend's men so that they could head off together. The night before Fergus and the troops left, Howe was already there, bemoaning the tardiness of his troops, as well as none other that his mother's friend and her son, Landra and Dairren. However, another unexpected guest arrived; the Grey Warden, Duncan. He was looking for a recruit to join the Grey Wardens, and to fight alongside them at Ostagar against the Darkspawn. Robb couldn't really deny excitement about this, he liked the idea of fighting for a noble cause. However, his father, predictably, was less than thrilled by the suggestion and the matter was considered dropped (by all but Robin). Bryce gave Robb and Brid the task of informing their older brother Fergus that he should leave for Ostagar before the remainder of the Couslands' troups until Howe's finally arrived. He did a few tasks with his sister beforehand, before meeting up with (and arranging a more private ''meeting with) Dairren. After everyone said their goodbyes to Fergus (for the time being) Robb returned to his room for his rendezvous with Dairren. Howe's Betrayal However, all did not go to plan, Howe's men arrived that night, not to group up with Teyrn Cousland and Howe, but to aid their Arl in capturing the castle. It was thus the sound of fighting and screaming from outside Robb's room. When Dairren opened the door to investigate the was instantly struck down by a guard, a Howe guard. With little time to gather his thoughts he fought off the guards with his hands, unsure to this day of how he did that, dressed and armed himself and ran out into the now empty hall to investigate. Killing a few more that came through before he saw his first friendly faces since his lover's sudden demise; his mother and sister. They exchanged stories of what happened so far and expressed their shock that Howe would do this, but kept it short, knowing that there was no use in standing around. They checked Fergus' room to make sure that Orianna and Oren were alright and to get them to somewhere safer if they could. Unfortunately what they found was the bodies of both of them. They had been callously murdered, making it obvious that Howe didn't intend to take prisoners, he would kill innocent women and children; he wanted the Couslands wiped out ''entirely. in the main hall.]]Tearing themselves away from the horrific sight, they had a discussion on what they would do now. It was decided that they would make their way to the treasury to retrieve the family sheild, armour and swords so that they wouldn't fall into the hands of the man who'd betrayed them. They of course had to fight their way there, with the help of some of the guards and a brave servant. Once there they took everything and headed to the secret passage out of the castle, where they hoped to finally find Bryce. On their way through the main hall they run into Ser Gilmore, who was bravely attempting to hold the door into the main castle so that the bulk of Howe's troups couldn't yet get in, and a few more brave guards. The plan was slowly failing. They helped him clear the hall of any who'd already breached the castle. Robb, knowing that the two (whom he and Brid were close to) would likely die in the effort, offered to stay and help them. He was persuaded out of this both by the two squires and his mother, who pointed out that it would be pointless for them all to stay and die, if some of them could be saved. The three then Couslands left the room, reluctantly, with Robb believing it would be the last time he would see his old friend. The three, and their allies, fought their way through the castle walkways, dealing with one particularly well equipped Howe soldier on the way. They went through the kitchens into the larder and found Bryce there, bleeding profusely from a pretty nasty wound to his stomach. He was very weak, unable to stand, and clearly dying. It was then that Duncan entered the room, having followed shortly behind them. In denial of the obvious fatal severity of his father's wound, Robb suggested they could carry him with them and find him a mage with healing magic. Both Duncan and Bryce informed him that the wound was too severe and they'd never get through with him there, even if he could be taken somewhere quick enough. It took both Brid and Robb a fair amount of persuading, but when asked by Duncan if they would agree to join the Grey Wardens, in exchange for his help getting them out of the castle. It took even more convincing when Eleanor told them that she would be saying. However, with great sadness, they left with Duncan to find Fergus at Ostagar, and help with the effort to stop the blight. Though neither of them planned to let this go. Both Brid and Robb fully planned to get their revenge against Howe and anyone involved in what had happened to them. Though they knew it would have to wait, the blight was still coming, and their brother needed to know of what had happened, not that they were eager to tell him. Ostagar Following the tragedy, the twins kept to their word, and travelled with Duncan to Ostagar to both find their brother to tell him the tragic news, and to await the mysterious joining ritual. It was in Ostagar they met Alistair, one of Duncan's fellow wardens, who accompanied them, as well as their two other fellow recruits, Daveth and Ser Jory, into the Korcari Wilds; where they had been charged to collect a vial each of darkspawn blood and to collect a set of scrolls. Once they'd trekked a fair way through the wilds for the scrolls, meeting enough 'friendly darkspawn willing to share their blood' to complete task one, they went on to the ruins to fine the discarded and, surprisingly, broken container. It was then that he they Morrigan, who explained that her mother had the treaties. Loghain's Betrayal Lothering "Meeting" Zevran Redcliffe Villiage redcliffe Castle Saving the Mage Tower Saving Connor Finding Shale Morrigan's Concerns Helping the Dalish Romance with Zevran Helping Morrigan Haven Urn of Sacred Ashes Done Aftermath The Breach Corypheus Exalted Council Trivia *While Alistair Theirin is rather fabulous, as evidenced by his beautiful customised warden armour, Robb is the most fabulous of all the Grey Warden crew. *While his and his sisters advocation for Elf rights makes them popular among some who have been waiting for a reform for a long time, it also draws the ire of many otherwise ''loyal nobles, who can be heard over the otherwise agreement of the Landsmeet. **These would be the ''same people who complain about the existence of Zevran. *Robb's crime alias, which he didn't pick, has an imposter last known to be living in Amaranthine. **He later met the guy and, after teasing him a bit, admitted that he didn't really mind there being another in Amaranthine. *Robin, along with Alistair, is the first known person to succesfully escape Fort Drakon. *Robb once stole the entire store of a mead brewery over the course of a few days when he heard the proprietor mistreat an en eleven woman who cleaned some of the local business. 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